The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-22

seething na.z. It was for moment only.
BUT IN that moment this accomplished mt
tallurgist, Mr.. Joseph Wiles, had arietIv
dropped q silver half dollar into the potl
Then he charged them to keep up the fires
and went to sieep-an but one eye.
Dawn came with dull beacon fires on the
near hill tops, and, far in the east, roses over
the Sierran snow. Birds twittering in the
alder fringes a mile below, and the crealxinn
OF wagon wheels-~the wagon itself a mere
cloud Of dust in the distant road--were heard
distinctly. Then the melting pot was sol
EMMY broken by Don Jose, and the glowing
incandescent mass turned into the road to
cool
And then the metallurgist clipped small
fragment from the mass and pounded it, ard
chir ped another smaller piece and poundad
that, and then subjected it to acid, and then
treated it to a salt bath which became at
once milky-and at last produced a white
neutrality-suspicious. dictu.-two cents worth
Of silveri
COncho shouted with joy; the rest gazed at
each other doubtinsly and distrustfully; com
panions in poverty, they began to diverge
and suspect each other in prosperity. wiIes'
left eye glanced ironically from the one to
the other
Here is the 500, Don Jose" said Pedro,
handing the gold to Wiles with a decidedly
brusque intimation that the services and
presence of a stranger were no longer re-
quired.
Wilkes took the money with a gracious
smile and a wink that sent Pesiro's heart into
his boots, and was turning away when a cry
from Manuel stopped him:
THE pot-the pot-it has leaked Iooki be
holdi seei"
He had been cleaning away the crumbled
fragments of the furnace to get ready for
breakfast, and had disclosed shining pool of
quicksilver.
Wiles started, cast a rapid glance around
the group, saw in n flash that the metal was
unknown to them, and thCs said, quietly:
1T is not silver"
"Par,ion, senior, it is, and still molten"
Wiles stopped and ran his fingers through
the shining metal
~Mother of God-what is it, hen,-magic.T
"No, only base metal" But here, Concho,
emboldened by Wiles' experiment, attempted
to seize a handful of the glistening mass that
Instantly broke through his fingers in "A thou
sand tiny spherules, and even sent a few
globules up his shirt sleeves, until Inc danced
aroui.d in mingled fear and childish pleasure
And it is not worth the taking.r querie,l
Pedro of Wiles
Wiles' right eye and bland face were
turned toward the speaker, but his malevo-
lent left was CHANGING at the dull, red brown
rock on the hillside.
@Noiv and tIIruinO aIIt,ntIv avpaxy bs ,,-c
ceeled to saddle his mule
Manuel, Miguel and Pedro, left to thent-
selves. began talking earnestly together,
while Concho, now mindful of his crippled
mule, made his way back to the trail where
he had left her. But she was no longer there.
Constant to her master through beatings and
bullyings, she could not stand inciyility and
inattention- There certain qualities of
the sex that belong to all animated nature.
Inconsolable, footsore and remorsefuI, Con-
cho returned to the camp and furnace, three
miles across the rocky ridge. But what was
his establishment on arriving to find the place
deserted Of man, mule and camp cquipage
Concho called aloud. Only the echoing rocks
grimly answered. him. Vas it a tricks Con-
chO tried to laugh Ah-yes-a good one-a
joke-no-no-they had deserted himi And
then poor Concho bowed his head to tho
ground. and falling on his face, cried as if his
honest heart would break
The tempest passed in a moment; it was not
Concho's nature to suffer long nor to brood
over an injury. As he raised his head again
his eye caught the simmer of the quick
silver-that pool Of merry antic metal that
had so delighted him an hour before. In a
few moments Concho was again disportins
with it; chasing it here and there, rolling it
in his palms and laughing with boylike giee
at its elusive freaks and fancies AN,
sprishtly one-skipjack-tkere thou goest-
come here. This way-now have thee, lit
tie one-come, muchacha-come and kiss
me" until he had quite forgotte the defec-
ton of his companions, And even when he
shoudered his sorry pack, he was fain to
carry his playmate away with him in his
empty leathern flask
And yet fancy the sun looked kindly On
him as he strobe cheerily down the black
mountain side, and his step was none the less
free nor light that he carried with him
neither the brilliant prospects nor the crime
Of his late comrades.